Is an oil change really needed before winter?

M

mikeg2

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Sep 23, 2005
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19114
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As usual I fish til the last minute in Md. and then winterize my boat.I have a merc 454 w/fwc so I wait til temps hit the 20s to fog and run some antifreeze thru the salt water side of the system.I noticed that a number of posts and my manual (Seloc) suggest oil and outdrive oil changes before the winter.Since its cold I'd rather wait til spring for the oil and do the fogging quickly.Is this a mistake?The
manual claims contaminants in the oil could dmage the bearings if not changed.By the way,the outdrive has synthetic and it looks clean.Motor has 60 hrs since last oil change.
 
It doesn't take that long if the oil is warm. Once the oil is warm it takes 15 minutes and you've got it done with one engine. IMHO it isn't worth the pondering all winter. I always do it before the boat comes out of the water. Oil change and add stabilizer. I normally do one last short trip with stabilizer in the tank to be sure I get it into the carb, then pull it out with fresh oil and 7/8 of a full tank of fuel to allow for expansion. Change oil when you get back to the dock for the last time and you won't worry about it. Here in Ohio our boats are on the hard for 6 months and I've heard old oil is full of corrosive contaminates. My $.02.
 
Thanks for the advice.I need a new oil change pump and I guess I was being lazy.How about 2 seasons on the outdrive oil if it looks clean?
 
When I had an outdrive I changed the oil every year in the fall. Always wanted fresh oil in the lower unit.
 
in the scheme of things...oil is very cheap....why worry. my owners manual says change every 125 hrs.

i change at 100hrs.
 
With a lot less than 100 hours this yr would you change it anyway? My only hesitation is that I had trouble with a tempo pump I bought last year and it would have taken hours to suck out the oil even when it was hot.Maybe the pump was bad.
 
Bought a Moeller hand pump that hold 5 qts today.It took 15 mins to change the oil thru the dip stick.The pump even shut itself off when it was full.Thanks for the encouragement.Happy holidays.
 
If the TBN (total base number) of the oil was really low, then there might be enough acid in the oil to etch bearings. The TBN indicates the ability for the oil to deal with acid produced during normal combustion. In most cases the TBN is high enough that the oil will not etch bearings.

But it costs about $20 to have the oil tested to find out the TBN. And you should change the oil in the fall or spring anyway.

So sleep better and change the oil in the fall.
 
Some will tell you change it to winterize and then change it again in the spring. Why? Moisture which will ead to rust. If ti sits all winter, in theory rust can form from moisture.

I change ours in November and then again in April or May because it 'feels good' to.
 
I do not understand the concern for moisture in the oil. If there is any, it will be turned to steam and vented out once the engine is brought up to normal operating temp.
 
I have always wondered in changing the oil in the winter and then again in the spring is a wives tale.

First, for sake of argument, let's forget about the cheap cost or sleeping well at night.

What, specifically, is in oil that over a 6 month period could possibly hurt an engine?

Why do we put oil on all kinds of things, but insist on changing it out on the boats?

I have to believe there are some chemical engineers or marine engineers that can shed some actual factual information on it.
 
No oil engineer, just an old contractor here, but regarding boiling water out of the engine at running temps, My 454 runs 165-170 degrees under normal operation. Water boils at 212F (at sea level) and our lake is 585 feet above sea level. My overheat alarm comes on at about 220. Lost two impellers this spring due to trash from record flooding and high water in the lake and got to know the alarm and impeller replacemt routine well. This was after three years of record drought...go figure

Safesea’s take on this.

http://www.safesea.com/boating_info/maintenence/winterizing.html

Wishing everyone the very best for 2008

Stan
 
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